Course Objectives:

1. To help students develop an understanding of the relationship between the communication process and the process of organizing;

2. To introduce students to the theories and concepts influencing the study of communication in organizational settings;

3. To help students develop an understanding of communication behavior in organizational settings so that they can better diagnose the day-to-day activities of organization members; and

4. To help students develop written and oral communication skills.

Required Text:

Eisenberg, E.M., & Goodall, H.L. (1997). Organizational communication (2nd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.

Grading:

Your grade in this course will be based on the following assignments:

Group Project 200 points

Manager Interview Paper 100 points

Exam I 100 points

Exam II 100 points

There are 500 possible points. Letter grades will be assigned as follows:

500 - 460 A

459 - 440 B+

439 - 405 B

404 - 390 C+

389 - 355 C

354 - 300 D

Below 300 F

Note: All assignments, including reading assignments, are expected to be completed by the due date. The instructor reserves the right to give unannounced quizzes if reading assignments are not completed.

ASSIGNMENTS:

GROUP PROJECT. For this assignment, students will be assigned to groups for the entire term. Each group will be responsible for conducting an organizational communication audit. More information concerning this assignment will be covered in class.

MANAGER INTERVIEW PAPER. The purpose of this assignment is to gather information on the role of communication in organizational settings.

For this assignment, you will select someone in a management position who is willing to be interviewed about communication in his/her organization. This person cannot be a close friend or relative. When making arrangements with this person, explain that the interview is required to fulfill a class assignment and should take between 30-40 minutes. Additionally, you may inform this person about the topics to be discussed.

For the interview, you WILL BE PROVIDED a list of questions (approximately 12-15) to ask this person concerning communication in organizations. In preparing for the interview, you will find it helpful to research the organization. Obtaining information about the organization (such as the history of the company, products/services produced, current financial state, etc.) will help you to make sense of the answers received.

After completing the interview, you will prepare a summary of the information gathered from interview. Specifically, your paper should include the following:

1) A summary of the information gathered in the interview;

2) A discussion of the similarities and differences between the manager's views on organizational communication and the information on organizational communication covered in class, in your text; and

3) A critique of your performance (i.e., Did you gather all the information needed? How well did you control the interview? What, if anything, would you change about the way you conducted the interview?).

A tape or written transcript of the interview MUST be included with your paper. Additionally, the name and phone number of the interviewee must be submitted with the paper.

Papers must be typed (double-spaced) and should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. While page lengths may vary, the paper should be approximately 10 pages in length. The paper is due Tuesday, October 27

TESTS. The first exam will be given on or about October 13; the second exam will be administered December 15 from 5:00 to 7:00. Tests will include short answer and essay questions.

Date Topic Assignment

September 1             Orientation                             Ch 1

                        Suggested Reading
Special Issue:  Management Communication Quarterly, 1996, Vol 10, No. 1 Management, Business, Organizational, and Corporate Communication: A Discussion of our Disciplines
 
September 8             Communication Process                   Ch 2
                        In Organizations